Fast decline of hematopoiesis and uncoupling protein 2 content in human liver after birth: location of the protein in Kupffer cells.

Hepatic hematopoiesis is prominent during fetal life and ceases around birth. In rodent liver, the decline of the hepatic hematopoiesis starts abruptly at birth being accompanied by a decrease of mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) expression in monocytes/macrophages, whereas hepatocytes may express UCP2 only under pathologic situations. The goals of this study were to characterize hepatic hematopoiesis in humans around birth, and to identify cells expressing UCP2.